Perks of Being a Writer
by LionessQuynh
Summary: Before taking his life, Charlie kept some of his works hidden from the world in a secret location that Charles, his nephew, would soon have to dig deep to find. What caused him to take his life? Why didn't Sam, his wife, notify the police when she found him dead? Go on a journey with Charles to unravel the truth about the family's secrets.. Rating may change over time.
1. Pilot

Chapter 1: The Beginning

**Charles was only ten when it happened. December 24, 2010. 8:15 AM. He remembered this because he woke up to the sound of his mother's cries echoing throughout the house and into his heart. The alarm clock was in the same position he had left it the previous night. He was planning to set the alarm clock for 11:30 but failed to do so because he had stayed up late finishing his summer readings. He would begin middle school in a week; one week before his panic attacks and social anxiety would sky rocket. If only he had known what was going to happen that morning, he wouldn't have had a million questions about how to be cool in middle school. Then again, nothing could ever prepare him for that dreadful morning.**

_Charles. Honey, wake up. I know it's early and we had the whole day planned out but there's been an emergency._

It felt like a dream, an unethical and dreadful dream. Sadly, it wasn't.

"Mom? Mom, what's wrong? You're scaring me." I croaked. My eyelids were heavier than the amount of makeup my mom was wearing on her face, which was smeared now.

"Charles.. your uncle Charlie died. Sam found him in his office with a note. She asked us to come see her immediately. She hasn't notified anyone else but us so we have to go, okay honey?" My mom frantically tried to calm me down by brushing my hair backwards and rubbing my cheeks together. She always did this when she was nervous. Ironically, it was more for my mother's sake rather than my own.

We were planning on celebrating Uncle Charlie's birthday by spending the day with him and his wife, Sam. His book, "The Perks of Being a Wallflower", has been a huge hit ever since it was published in 2007. An independent film company offered ten thousand dollars for the rights of the book. He happily declined without a heavy heart; he thought it wouldn't be fair to his fans. You see, he had a brilliant way of looking at things from a different perspective. If he had accepted the offer and allowed them to turn it into a movie, it would have be adapted from the director's point of view and not the reader's point of view. He wanted his story to be seen _by_ millions, _from_ millions of perspective. One answer was never enough for Charlie. Until the day that he would pass away, Charlie never stopped looking for answers.

Even though I knew that this wasn't a dream, I was calm about the whole situation. I couldn't help but stare blankly at my mother smearing her makeup and hugging her knees together. I found it amusing, actually. It was so amusing that Uncle Charlie was my dream for the last 10 years. When I grew up, I wanted to be a successful writer with a beautiful wife and a content heart, like Uncle Charlie. Now that my dream had some loopholes, I couldn't help but laugh at how sour my stomach began to churn.

I stopped laughing and burst into tears after realizing it was _the_ moment. The moment where a writer truly becomes a writer; the heartache that is universal. I's the moment when you can feel your heart shriveling up in your chest. They say you experience this when you grow old and see the world in a crude way, but I was unlucky to have experienced it 60 years earlier than due time. This moment is what separates readers from writers; it's the courage to give away pieces of your shriveled heart in your work for others to confide in. We read books when we're younger because our imagination was the root of our growth, it was the root of my childhood. Uncle Charlie's works _were_ my childhood. He was my favorite novel for the last 10 years of my life, until that moment. 

Alright so I don't own any of the works related to The Perks of Being a Wallflower, hence why I added the title in the story for irony, so let's get that out of the way. This is my first time writing ANYTHING that is close to fanfiction, so go easy on me. Please let me know what you think or what you'd like to see. Let me know if I should continue the story, or write a different prompt. If I get enough positive feedback, I should be updating regularly so let me know. Hope you guys enjoy.

xo,

Q


	2. Demons

Chapter 2

**Life became awfully difficult for Candace when Charles started developing signs of severe depression and anxiety, much like Charlie when he was younger. Being a single mom was never easy for Candice. However, as hard as she worked to keep a roof above their heads, her love for her little boy was more than enough to endure anything life chucked at her. You could say that Charlie and Charles were almost identical from the outside looking in; they definitely shared some core qualities about each other.  
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**Unfortunately, Charles was unfortunate to inherit some of his father's demons. Candice never spoke about the man that left bruises and scars on her body before Charles was born, but it was visible whenever he tried to hug his mother, resulting in his mom frozen with fear. He never understood why his mom's body would grow limp whenever he tried to hold her hand or kiss her cheek. She made sure to never show Charles a picture of his father in fear that he would hate how similar he looked to his father. It became impossible to hide from the man that abused her because she saw him whenever Charles would smile in a way his old man did.**

**There was a small incident when Candace and Charles went out to get ice cream for his 8****th ****birthday. She was waiting in line to get him his favorite; birthday cake sundae with a sprinkle of hazelnut sauce and a scoop of Oreo's on top. He sat quietly at the table across from the counter, he didn't like to make eye contact with anyone that he was unfamiliar with. He noticed something sour in the atmosphere, there was a man with unfriendly intentions heading towards his mom. He was eyeing her the way a prey would eye a rare steak; disgusting and inhumane. She tried to steer clear of dangerous situations that would put her and her little boy's life in danger as much as possible, but danger was always seeking a pretty face.  
>The man waited in line behind her until he saw her leave the counter, that's when he made his move. He purposely ran into her as she walked away from the opposite direction and yelped out loud. It wasn't her fault, she made sure to never put herself in the center of attention. She apologized without looking at the man and continued to walk towards her son, who was now very concerned about his mother.<strong>

**The man visibly looked angry and pulled her hand backwards, forcing her to drop her son's favorite ice cream on the tile floor. His mom was frozen with fear; her limbs grew cold and her face was full of panic. Soon, the stranger's face was replaced with the man who sold her soul to the devil.  
>She was no longer here anymore; she learned to dissociate herself from the pain that was inevitable from a man's mouth and hand. Charles finally got up from his seat and took that guy's hand and bit it with all his might. The man dropped his mom's hand and screamed in agony. Charles took the man's other hand and bit that with the same amount of force. Before the man ran away from the little boy, he screamed provocative insults at the boy, saying he was the spawn of the devil. Charles was always being compared to Satan or the devil, but he never knew why, he was only protecting those close to him. Whenever Charles was triggered, he was filled with animal instincts. There are only a couple instincts where he would be triggered: his mother growing limp and empty, and whenever he felt violated and abused. The latter only occurred once, but the effect remained as severe as the first.<strong>

** Whenever Charles behaved like this, Candice would hallucinate and see Charles as his father. She would be reminded of the abuse and torture she was put through in combination of her body growing limp and confusing the boy in front of her as the man that welcomed her to hell. When this happens, Charles can't help but feel confused and angry at himself because of how much he would put his mother in pain. He always thought it was his fault that his mother couldn't go and hangout with her little boy without putting her in agonizing pain. He tried to help and hug his mom, but she would push him back and scream with terrifying pleas. She isn't able to regain stability until she is able to see Charles as Charles. This only happens when he starts crying and screaming out for help for his mother's pain. The people around them were both equally shocked and speechless about the relationship between the two. Candice snapped back into reality when she saw him shaking in fear; she wrapped her arms around him and apologized.**

**Whenever the two would have an episode, only Charles would remember what happened. Candice would find herself mixing memories with one another and found it impossible to remember the real story. He thought it would be a better idea to not bring up bad memories, so he kept the memories to himself. This became an agonizing cycle of loneliness and terror for him. **

It was one week before Uncle Charlie's birthday. We were planning to celebrate his birthday with my mom and his wife, Sam. My mom was working over-time tonight, so Uncle Charlie promised her that he would hang out with me until she got home from work. We went to our usual hangout place, the train station behind the old bookstore. I always thought that was a weird place to have a train station; why would you have a bookstore in front of a noisy environment? It wasn't until Uncle Charlie brought me to the station that I utterly fell in love with this place. I always thought you were supposed to fall in love with a person, but this place _was_ my person. When you placed yourself at the right location at the right time, you could see the sun begin to set while all the trains come back home to their cozy tunnel for rest.

I saw each one go peacefully into the tunnels, one after another. Before they went into the tunnel, they would let out a loud screech from the tires, followed by a long horn. I always thought this was how the trains would talk to each other before they went to bed. It wasn't as noisy as you would think a station would be, they took turns reaching their tunnels so they didn't all screech at the same time. It was like a choir for trains, one note would start a chain reaction for the other trains, and soon, the choir would put me to sleep.  
>I couldn't sleep tonight though, I was too excited about spending time with Uncle Charlie. It was rare to have him all to myself because he was such a busy man. He made sure to spend some time with his favorite kid in the whole world every month, even if there was a pile of deadlines on his head.<p>

Tonight felt different than other nights, it felt painfully sore. I didn't know why but I felt like Uncle Charlie was somewhere else tonight. I was always laughing with Uncle Charlie or sharing stories about how the lunch lady always made the best meatballs in the whole wide world. But tonight, Uncle Charlie couldn't help but look at me as if I was the answer he has been searching for his entire life.

"Hey buddy, what do you think would happen to this world if the author of 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower' was proclaimed as dead soon?" Uncle Charlie said with sour taste in his mouth. He crinkled a half-smile but it wasn't filled with happiness, but uncertainty.

"I think it would suck. It would just suck in its complete suckiness. It would be.. completely suck-ening." I always made puns with Uncle Charlie whenever our conversations would turn sour, it was my way of comforting him when I felt like he was down.

"I'm serious buddy, would you be okay? I need to know that you would take care of the people that hold you so dear to them… to me. I need to know that someone in this world exists for that one person who lost their way to their destination. I need to know that someone like that exists in this world." Uncle Charlie's voice started breaking towards the last sentence, he was holding Charles close.

"Yeah, Uncle Charlie. Of course I would take care of Aunt Sam and my mom and you! I would take care of you, too. I'm going to grow older to be like you and save people's lives by writing homes for people. I'll be your home one day, Uncle Charlie. I'll write homes for Aunt Sam, and for mom, and—" I found myself talking so enthusiastic that I was out of breath by the time Uncle Charlie squeezed the life of out me.

"Buddy, you're going to have to stay strong, okay? Candice, I mean, your mom, hasn't been in the greatest shape lately and I need you to be a big boy and take care of her for me. You're going to grow up to be someone who won't be weak and break down. You can't let the demons get to you bud, please don't let it get to you.. b-because you have a home. Whenever you find yourself homeless, remember that I have one for you. Whenever you forget where your home is, it will be there for you. Don't you forget that, bud. Don't forget.. me." Uncle Charlie kept stopping me mid-sentence to look at me with broken eyes and shaky sentences.

I felt like we were having two conversations. I was having a conversation with the old Uncle Charlie and he was having a conversation with the older me. I didn't understand why he was saying all these things at our favorite spot. We were always happy when we came here, but tonight, I felt like one of us had died. I knew it wasn't Uncle Charlie because I could no longer breathe in his arms. Suddenly, I felt like Uncle Charlie was no longer holding me, it was his ghost.

The last train checked into its tunnel and let out a final horn. The sun had set and soon, the world was pitch black.


End file.
